Mac's Hardware expanding

March 31, 2014

Come late April, be ready to participate in MAC'S Hardware's grand re-opening in Minot as staff celebrates an expansion that gives them quite a bit more space and new merchandise lines.

The store has been in its current spot on 20th Avenue Southwest for four years now, first opening in March 2010.

David Kinney, an assistant manager for the store, said the business was really starting to feel the limitations of the size of the store as Minot's population began to boom and they began to look into expansion ideas.

Article Photos

Flint McColgan/MDNThe MAC’s Hardware location that’s been in Minot for four years proudly displays a “MAC’S IS EXPANDING!” flier above a former bread shop that vacated its portion of the building in the middle of January.

MAC'S saw a prime opportunity when Master Bread Thrift Store right next door and in the same building decided to close down.

"Once we knew that the bread store was going to close we were looking to make sure we got the property," Kinney said.

By Jan. 1, MAC'S had bought the building space and by Jan. 15 the bread shop closed down completely and MAC'S began the legal processes needed in order to tear down the internal walls and expand their shelves.

Once all the building permits and other documentation was finished, the physical construction process took about two weeks, Kinney said. That process included knocking the walls down and putting down matching linoleum tile.

The end result is a new, large nook of the store that matches the rest of the store completely, although it's easy to see the expansion because the new tiling hasn't gotten as much foot traffic, yet. It gave them the space they were sorely lacking before.

"This way it opened it up a little more so customers feel a little more open instead of crowded," Kinney said.

That allows for more merchandise lines such as a new tool line, new pet supply section, more housewares and lightbulbs and even a new military surplus line. That will include things like gas masks, dehydrated foods, and other things. But it's not just new items that the space allows for, it also makes it easier to provide more customer services.

"With our rope and chain we cut all of that to length, whatever the customer wants, and we're getting more braided rope in that we braid ourselves here at the store," Kinney said. "So people can come in and not have to wait for it, now, because we'll have it braided ahead of time because we've got the room to display it."

The family-owned MAC'S Inc., chain of hardware stores is based in North Dakota and opened its first retail store in Fargo, according to corporate information. There are now 14 store locations across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. They took on the MAC'S name in 1975 and have maintained the business through four generations.